Secrets of the Oracle : A History of Wisdom From Zeno to Yeats

What is wisdom? Where does it come from? Where can we find it? And what does it mean in our lives? In Secrets of the Oracle , David Shaw explores these questions by turning to the works of wisdom writers, whose words retain their meaning and transformative power even centuries after they were written. Wisdom literature exists in two shaping forms - the aphorism, geared towards the past, and the oracle, a revolutionary impulse looking to the future. Secrets of the Oracle discusses both types of wisdom, finding them in the works of poets and philosophers from Tennyson and Zeno to Yeats and George Berkeley, from Browning and Schleiermacher to T.S. Eliot and F.H. Bradley. The book also discusses the contribution to wisdom of Jesus and the author of Ecclesiastes, of Abraham Lincoln and Norman Maclean. Part celebration of wisdom found and part lament for wisdom lost, Secrets of the Oracle is convincing in its assertion that wisdom articulates what is and offers creative visions of the future. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 11 Part One. An Owl For Apollo: Wisdom And The Poets 23 1. Descent Of The Owl: Philosophy Among The Poets 23 2. Tennyson And Zeno: Three Infinities 49 3. How Poets Die To Time: The Sublime Oracle 72 4. Making Peace With Time: The Beautiful Oracle 94 5. The Ruins Of Time: The Grotesque Oracle 107 Part Two. Homage To Wisdom: From Delphi To Zen 129 6. Wisdom And The Logos: John’s Gospel To Four Quartets 129 7. Gnostic Wisdom: Parable And Koan 137 8. Paradox And Oracle: Crucible Versus Mirror 150 9. Copy-Speech And Counter-Love: Wordsworth And Frost 165 10. ‘A River Runs Through It’ And Joyce’S ‘The Dead’ 177 Part Three. Owls, Bulls, And Serpents: Wisdom Or Guile? 195 11. The Wise Owl: George Eliot’s Arrested Wit 195 12. The Serpent Of Irony: Wisdom Or Guile? 216 13. Groucho Marx To Bernard Shaw: The Irish Bull 238 14. Oracles Of Wit: Oscar Wilde And Northrop Frye 256 Part Four. Wisdom At Gettysburg: Rewriting The Oracles 283 15. From Delphi To Gettysburg: Changing The Covenant 283 16. Coleridge And Huxley: Experiment Or Decree? 308 17. Evolving Oracles: Newman, Browning, And Shakespeare 325 18. An Underground Oracle: ‘Look In Your Heart And Write’ 346 Works Cited 371 Index 385 "What is wisdom? Where does it come from? Where can we find it? And what does it mean in our lives? In Secrets of the Oracle, W. David Shaw explores these questions by turning to the works of wisdom writers, whose words retain their meaning and transformative power even centuries after they were written." "Wisdom literature exists in two shaping forms - the aphorism, geared towards the past, and the oracle, a revolutionary impulse looking to the future. Secrets of the Oracle discusses both types of wisdom, finding them in the works of poets and philosophers from Tennyson and Zeno to Yeats and George Berkeley, from Browning and Schleiermacher to T.S. Eliot and F.H. Bradley. The book also discusses the contribution to wisdom of Jesus and the author of Ecclesiastes, of Abraham Lincoln and Norman Maclean. Part celebration of wisdom found and part lament for wisdom lost, Secrets of the Oracle is convincing in its assertion that wisdom articulates what is and offers creative visions of the future."--Jacket

What is wisdom? Where does it come from? Where can we find it? And what does it mean in our lives?Shaw explores these questions by turning to the works of wisdom writers, whose words retain their meaning and transformative power even centuries after they were written.